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Affordable rural passivhaus development in the pipeline |
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20 Jan 2011, 4:08 PM
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A Hastoe Housing Association development in Wimbish, Essex may be the first rural affordable Passivhaus development in the UK. The aim is to complete the scheme by Spring 2011, then receive accreditation from the Passivhaus Institut (Germany) by early Summer 2012. The scheme has received investment from the HCA via a grant of £830,000 from the National Affordable Housing Programme. The scheme is being built on a rural exception site, with the 14 shared ownership and social rented homes being reserved for those people with strong local connections to the community.
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The homes will require little or no energy use for heating or cooling. They will have excellent thermal comfort and ventilation and low primary energy use, meaning reduced living costs for residents. The buildings will also achieve high quality construction standards and be rated at Level Four of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
The team visited Germany, the birthplace of Passivhaus, last year to find out more about the concept. They viewed Passivhaus homes where the technology has been tried, tested and proven to be successful in European climate conditions.
Sue Chalkley, Chief Executive, Hastoe said: “Passivhaus is the common-sense approach to delivering low energy, healthy and comfortable buildings. It integrates with the Code for Sustainable Homes and can achieve excellent results for organisations like Hastoe who are committed to sustainable homes and communities. The outcome for residents is well-designed, green, energy efficient homes with lower fuel bills especially important in rural areas where fuel poverty is a significant issue.”
“This project is a real opportunity for the sector and we will be replicating what we learn in our future developments. We are pleased to have had such strong support for this innovative approach.”
Terry Fuller, executive director, for the East and South East at the HCA said: “We are thrilled that the first rural Passivhaus scheme will be in Essex. Wimbish uses local labour and local materials, so it is great that local people will also benefit from the homes when they are built. This approach creates a real sense of community and is an excellent example of how we can provide affordable homes for local people which are also sustainable.”
As with all Hastoe schemes, community has been at the heart of the project and the proposals have been developed with enthusiastic support from Wimbish Parish Council and Uttlesford District Council. It was the Parish Council which first raised concerns about the impact the lack of affordable housing was having on the village. The Council’s on-going support has helped reinforce the importance of community involvement to the success of any scheme. Mike Young, Chairman of the Parish Council added: "We had asked that the homes be as environmentally friendly as possible and our expectations were exceeded with Hastoe’s plans to build to Passivhaus standards".
As the project got underway in Summer 2010, pupils from the local primary school joined Sir Alan Haselhurst MP to help celebrate the start of the construction. The local children said they were looking forward to the prospect of youngsters being able to stay in the village and join them in their primary school, which is across the road from the development and currently has only 58 pupils.
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